March 20, 2024 — Holy Week

The focus of our lesson last week was Holy Week. We started off by explaining the importance of the holidays (holy days) of Holy Week. We pointed out that while most people their age get all worked up over Christmas, it’s actually Easter and the events leading up to Easter that are the most important, by a long shot. Jesus’s resurrection proved his divinity, and without the resurrection, Jesus would probably be remembered just as another prophet and not the Messiah.

We had volunteers read the front cover descriptions of four Holy Week events, Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil. We provided the class the times of the various Masses and ceremonies on each day and asked the class to write the times on their pamphlet.

We pointed out that there are so many events in Holy Week, that Palm Sunday actually has to Gospels. The first is at the start of the Mass and describes Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem. We had volunteers read the Gospel from Mark and discuss the Think Questions. We asked if they knew how Jesus went from receiving a “Super Bowl Champion Parade” to being killed only five days later. We described how the people who rejoiced on Palm Sunday were not the same people who plotted his death later in the week. We pointed out that Jesus was a troublemaker for the Jewish elite and power brokers. He was trying to shake things up and that made the Jewish leaders uncomfortable and threatened, which is why they plotted his death.

One of the Think Questions” was “How would you welcome Jesus to your school or parish?” We had a number of expected answers. I asked them, “How would you recognize him?” The students responded again with some expected answers. But then I asked them, “But suppose Jesus came to your church disguised as a homeless person who hadn’t bathed in a week and had dirty and tattered clothes?” Jesus may be there, and you might never know it.

We moved on to page 4 and the second Gospel of Jesus’s passion. We divided the class into three groups. Each group selected a reader to read a particular part of John’s Gospel, and the rest of the group were to act out or mime the action. They looked up the assigned passage for their group and spent a few minutes preparing what they were going to do. We were only able to get to three of the five scenes, Jesus’s arrest, the high priest’s interrogation of Jesus, and his trial before Pilate. As always, exercises like this are a little chaotic (Not everyone is as cooperative as we would like.), but it worked. Hopefully, the students may remember some of it after they walked out the door.

As always, we asked each student to cite something they learned that evening, and were rewarded with a cookie.

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March 13, 2024 — Seeds and The Lord’s Prayer

For the most part, our lesson last week wasn’t the liveliest we have seen. If I didn’t have to teach it again, it wouldn’t break my heart. The Gospel reading for the week had Jesus describing his life/mission as being like a seed that has to first break and die before bringing new life. Not an easy concept to convey to 4-5-6th graders.

Mrs Baran opened with the front cover exercise that asked the students to identify various photos (puppies, babies, etc.) and to list what they needed to grow. She then asked the students to list what they needed in order to grow closer to God.

I took over with volunteers reading a lengthy story about a man who works in a hospital and uses the media department there to help pediatric patients cope with their hospital stay.

Mrs. Baran had volunteers read/role play the Gospel reading and discussed it.

Finally, we came to, what I think was, the best part of the evening (and not because I taught it.) We examined the Lord’s Prayer. The students all agreed that when they usually pray, they are just reciting words from memory, and don’t really think about what they are actually saying. So we took the prayer and broke it down, line by line, and examined exactly what we are saying or asking of God in each line. We also discussed the differences between the Catholic version and the slightly longer Protestant version. I think they got it, but you never know.

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Feb. 28, 2024 — Mt Sinai & the Ten Commandments

Our lesson last week focused mostly on the Ten Commandments and the story of the Israelites receiving the Commandments from God at Mt Sinai.

The Venture pamphlet had a rather lengthy (3-pages) summary of the story from Exodus with multiple roles to be played. We assigned the roles and moved to the state in the parish center to act out the story. In retrospect, that might not have been the smartest move, but no one fell off and no damage done. Our play-acting was somewhat chaotic, but I think the students learned and understood the story.

We next move on to the Gospel reading for Sunday (except for 5:30 Saturday Mass when Fr. K switched to the A cycle readings due to the RCIA scrutiny.) We assigned roles again and acted out the story of the cleansing of the temple. We discussed Jesus’s motivation and what he meant by saying he was the real temple.

We returned to a discussion of the commandments, this time focusing on their content rather than the story of Mt. Sinai. Questions and discussion.

We asked the students to leave their pamphlets behind because there was a section we didn’t get to regarding the You Shall Not Kill commandment. We may revisit that at a later at.

A reminder, this week is the parish Penance service during our regular class time. We hope you will participate as a family.

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